William b



(No Model.)

W. E. WATERS. Machine for Cutting Indioes.

Patented Feb. 8;1881.

Ella-n5 Fllll MPEIERS. PHOTO-UTHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D c.

ATENT FFICEC WILLIAM E. WATERS, OF ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING INDICES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 237,647, dated February 8, 1881.

Application filed December 15, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. WATERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Orange, county of Essex, State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Cutting Indices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for cutting the leaves of books as preparatory to indexing the same; and it consists, essentially, in a certain novel escapement for regulating the motion of the book-clamp hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

This invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figurel represents a vertical cross-section on the line no as, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section on the line 1 1 Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows the escapement both in side view and in plan or top View.

Similar letters indicate corresponding parts.

The letter A designates the carriage, which is arranged to slide on a guide-bar, B, preferably dovetailed, and which is subjected to the action of a weight, 0, or a spring having a tendency to force the same toward one end of the guide-bar.

To the base of the carriage A is applied a jaw, D, for holding the book thereon, this jaw being fixed to a pivot, 10, on which are coiled springs 11 to retain the jaw in a normal position.

The letter F designates a rack-bar; G, an oscillating lever, and H two pawls arranged on the lever, which together constitute an escapement for controlling the movement of the book-clamp. The rack-bar F is attached to a frame, I, which is a fixture of the book-clamp, and the teeth of this bar project therefrom in a horizontal direction. The oscillating lever G has its fulcrum on a pivot, 12, fixed to the machine-frame, and it is located adjacent to the rack-bar F, so that the pawls H may engage the teeth of the latter. The pawls H are held in their normal positions by the action of springs 13, these positions being determined by stops 14:. The motion of the oscillating lever G is produced in one direction by a spring, 15, and in the other direction by a vertical reciprocating rod, J, through an intermediate lever, L, and link N, said rod being connected (No model.)

to a treadle, O, and being the part which operates the machine-knife, (marked P.)

When the machine is at rest one of the teeth of the rack-bar F abuts against the lower pawl, H, as shown in Fig. 3; but when the knife begins to descend. the oscillating lever G moves in the direction of the arrow marked opposite to it in Fig. 3, and said tooth is brought between the pawls, which releases the rack-bar, and with it the book-carriage, so that the latter is permitted to follow the action of its weight or spring. By the described motion of the oscillating lever G the upper pawl, H, is brought into the path of the rack-teeth, and hence the next tooth comes in contact therewith in the movement of the carriage, the effect of which is to check the latter. This takes place before the knife begins to cut, so that the book resting on the carriageis brought to the proper position to be acted on by the knife. When the out has been made and the knife ascends the oscillating lever G again takes the position shown, and the lower pawl, H, is again presented to the rack-teeth, the tooth previously in contact with the upper pawl being brought into contact with the lower one. This operation is repeated at each descent of the knife, and it will be seen that the distance between the rack-teeth thus determines the movement of the book-carriage and the length of the cut, while by placing the teeth at appropriate points the length of the out can be varied to suit the size or character of the book to be indexed. The rack-bar F is made detach able, and a series of bars having their teeth difl'erently arranged from each other, are fornished with each machine, so that it is capable of doing different kinds of work.

The machine-knife P is curved, as shown in Fig. 4, and by this means the corners of the indices Q, Fig. 5, cut thereby are rounded, which is a desideratum.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an index-cutting machine, the combi- 5 and a pivoted lever connected with the link and arranged to be operated by the mechanism which actuates the cutting-knife, all sub- 15 stantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

W. E. WATERS. [L. 8.]

Witnesses:

J. HERMANN WAHLERS, J AMES L. NORRIS. 

